Editing Pope Alexander VI (section)

=== Familial aggrandizement ===
The prominent Italian families looked down on the Spanish Borgia family, and they resented their power, which they sought for themselves. This is, at least partially, why both Pope Callixtus III and Pope Alexander VI gave powers to family members whom they could trust.{{#tag:ref|"The Spaniards had been trying to take back their country from the Moors for almost 800 years. By the middle of the 15th century, this reconquest was almost complete, but Spain was still a hodgepodge of competing principalities and, because of its constant state of warfare, still a very backward country. In Italy, on the other hand, the Renaissance, which had hardly begun in Spain, had reached its high point and the Italians, in general, did not look kindly on a citizen of this backward country being elevated to the highest post in the Church. Remember, too, that the pope at the time, besides his spiritual powers, was a sovereign political power with large areas of the peninsula, nominally, at least, under his control. Italy was, politically, in a worse state than Spain. In the south, Naples was a fief of the pope, but its ruler, King Ferrante, refused to acknowledge the pope's authority. In the north of the peninsula, many small principalities vied for dominance and were often at war with one another, changing alliances as rapidly as opportunity invited. In the Papal States themselves, noble families, such as the Orsini and the Colonna, acted as petty tyrants in the cities and areas which they controlled, grinding down the people and constantly seeking to achieve their independence from their sovereign, the pope. These Roman families even sought to control the Papacy itself. It was probably only because they could not agree on an Italian successor to Nicholas V that the elderly Callistus had been elected; one who, in all probability, would not live long...Callistus III was acknowledged by all as religious and austere, though severely criticized for his largesse to his family. But he was surrounded by enemies both within the Church and among the rulers of Europe. When elected, he did what all leaders do, he surrounded himself with people whom he believed he could trust. A Spaniard in Italy, he was hard-pressed to find such trustworthiness except from members of his own family; hence his patronage of them, though it is not to be denied that it was probably also for personal reasons."<ref>J.B. Darcy, [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/What+you+don%27t+know+about+the+Borgia+Pope%3A+Alexander+VI+%281492-1503%29.-a0268401837 ''What you don't know about the Borgia Pope: Alexander VI (1492–1503)''].</ref>|group=Note}}

[[File:Alexander - Bolla "Desiderando nui", dopo il 18 settembre 1499 - 2951587.tif|thumb|Papal bull ''Desiderando nui'', 1499]]

In these circumstances, Alexander, feeling more than ever that he could rely only on his own kin, turned his thoughts to further family aggrandizement. He had annulled Lucrezia's marriage to [[Giovanni Sforza]], who had responded to the suggestion that he was impotent with the unsubstantiated counterclaim that Alexander and Cesare indulged in incestuous relations with Lucrezia, in 1497.{{#tag:ref|"As for her reputation, there is absolutely no evidence for the rumors of incest with one or more of her brothers – or indeed with her father – apart from that given by her first husband, Giovanni Sforza, during the divorce proceedings, during which several other baseless accusations were leveled in both directions."<ref>{{harvp|Norwich|2011|p=272}}</ref>|group=Note}} Unable to arrange a union between Cesare and the daughter of King [[Frederick IV of Naples]] (who had succeeded Ferdinand II the previous year), he induced Frederick by threats to agree to a marriage between the Duke of [[Bisceglie]], a natural son of Alfonso II, and Lucrezia. Alexander and the new French king [[Louis XII]] entered a secret agreement; in exchange for a bull of divorce between the king and [[Joan of France, Duchess of Berry|Joan of France]] (so he could marry [[Anne of Brittany]]) and making [[Georges d'Amboise]] (the king's chief advisor) the cardinal of [[Rouen]], Cesare was given the duchy of [[Valentinois]] in France (chosen because it was homophonous with his nickname, Valentino, derived from his father's papal epithet ''Valentinus'' ("The [[Kingdom of Valencia|Valencian]]", as seen on his coins<ref>See inscription on 5 Ducat piece [[:File:Roma, alessandro VI, 5 ducati, 1492-1503.jpg]] "Alexander VI Pontifex Maximus Borgia Valentinus" ("The Valencian", his epithet indicating his birth in Xàtiva in the Kingdom of Valencia under the Crown of Aragon (now Spain)</ref> denoting his origin in the [[Kingdom of Valencia]], Spain), military assistance to help him subjugate the feudal princelings of papal Romagna,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Machiavelli |first1=Niccolò |title=The Prince and Selected Discourses |year=1981 |publisher=Bantam Books |location=New York |isbn=0-553-21227-3 |edition=Bantam Classic |page=[https://archive.org/details/princeclassics00nicc/page/127 127] |url=https://archive.org/details/princeclassics00nicc/page/127 }}</ref> and a princess bride, [[Charlotte of Albret]] from the [[Kingdom of Navarre]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Juan de Albret y Catalina de Foix o la defensa del Estado navarro (1483–1517)|last=Adot Lerga |first=Álvaro |publisher=Pamiela |year=2005 |isbn=84-7681-443-7|location=Pamplona/Iruñea|pages=164–65}}</ref>

Alexander hoped that Louis XII's help would be more profitable to his house than that of Charles VIII had been. In spite of the remonstrances of Spain and of the Sforza, he allied himself with France in January 1499 and was joined by Venice. By autumn Louis XII was in Italy expelling Lodovico Sforza from Milan. With French success seemingly assured, the Pope determined to deal drastically with Romagna, which although nominally under papal rule was divided into a number of practically independent lordships on which Venice, Milan, and Florence cast hungry eyes. Cesare, empowered by the support of the French, began to attack the turbulent cities one by one in his capacity as nominated ''[[Gonfalone of the Church|gonfaloniere]]'' (standard bearer) of the church. But the expulsion of the French from Milan and the return of Lodovico Sforza interrupted his conquests, and he returned to Rome early in 1500.